拍賣筆記 vol.415 蘇富比香港2026：115.2萬售出，商代晚期青銅爵，銘文「戈」，壺中居，岡田博物館 - Sotheby’s 2026, Okada Sales Part 2, The Ge Jue, An Inscribed Archaic Bronze Ritual Wine Vessel, Late Shang Dynasty
Updated: Sep 4
SACA拍場（2026.09.04）：競爭激烈，6565號牌電話。
商代晚期的青銅器，以殷墟出土者為第一追求目標。商代晚期的爵常帶有各式銘文，但通常都字數不多，以族徽為主。一般爵與觚多成對出現，雖然觚比較大，但級別並不是單純論大小，故爵並不比觚低級；實際上，從禮制等級而論，爵或更為高級。
《禮記·禮器》原文：
「有以小為貴者：宗廟之祭，貴者獻以爵，賤者獻以散；尊者舉觶，卑者舉角。 此以小為貴也。」
鄭玄注引《韓詩說》：
「一升曰爵，二升曰觚，三升曰觶，四升曰角，五升曰散。」
孔穎達疏云「是尊者小，卑者大」，清楚揭示禮書中飲酒器的等級原則——容量越小，地位越高。爵容一升，最為尊貴，供貴者使用。此即所謂「以小為貴」。雖然這是西周時期的記載，卻仍是一個頗具啟發的反常識參考。筆者主要是為了讓藏家理解：觚，絕不是天然更高級更少，爵雖小卻不容忽視。
收藏青銅爵時，除造型、紋飾、皮殼等傳統指標外，銘文實為重中之重。文字考究向來是東方收藏的核心所在。參考泉屋博古館所藏形形色色、大小不一的青銅爵，主要圍繞亞、戈、冊、車等幾個核心族徽展開。戈雖為常見族徽，卻頗為重要，學界普遍認為其家族屬性可能與作戰、軍隊相關。
商代晚期 青銅爵
銘文「戈」
The Ge Jue, an inscribed archaic bronze ritual wine vessel, Late Shang dynasty
Estimate
300,000 - 600,000 HKD
拍賣時間：2026年9月4日
apanese wood box with Hata Zoroku IV (1898–1984)′s inscription dated 1947
19.5 cm
木盒蓋內書四代秦蔵六（1898至1984年）昭和丁亥（1947年）題識
來源
壺中居，東京
「太史公曰：禹為姒姓，其後分封，用國為姓，
故有夏后氏、有扈氏、有男氏、斟尋氏、彤城氏、褒氏、
費氏、杞氏、繒氏、辛氏、冥氏、斟（氏）、戈氏。」
— 司馬遷，《史記．夏本紀》
Provenance
Kochukyo Co., Ltd, Tokyo.
Among late Shang dynasty bronzes, those from Yinxu (Anyang) remain the foremost pursuit for collectors.Jue vessels are frequently inscribed with a variety of texts. Jue and gu typically appear in pairs; thus the jue is by no means inferior to the gu. In terms of ritual hierarchy, the jue may in fact rank higher.
When collecting jue, beyond the traditional criteria of form, decoration and patina, the inscription is of paramount importance. The scholarly examination of script has always stood at the heart of East Asian collecting.Looking at the diverse jue of varying sizes in the Sen-oku Hakukokan (Sumitomo Collection), they primarily revolve around several core clan emblems: Ya (亞), Ge (戈), Ce (冊), Che (車) and others. Although Ge is a common emblem, it is of considerable significance; scholarly consensus generally holds that the clan’s attributes may be related to warfare and the military.
“The Grand Historian says: Yu belonged to the Si surname.
His descendants were later enfeoffed, and
taking the names of their fiefs as surnames;
thus there arose the Xiahou clan, the Hu clan, the Nan clan, the Zhenxun clan,
the Tongcheng clan, the Bao clan, the Fei clan, the Qi clan, the Zeng clan,
the Xin clan, the Ming clan, the Zhen clan, and the Ge clan.”
— Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian: The Basic Annals of Xia
Cast for posterity, a single pictogram of Ge (戈, dagger-axe) beneath the handle marks this vessel for the great Ge clan, a lineage traced to Yu of the Xia, among a rare few to claim such descent. Like a noble banner or seal of rank, the emblem proclaims an elite war-house forged in military power and bronze production, one of the very few ancient clans to dominate across the Xia, Shang, and Zhou. A clan too formidable to fade, bronzes bearing this mark declare a lineage that endures, commands, and will be remembered.
The Ge clan ranks among the most extensively studied lineages of early China, its name appears in early historical texts and oracle-bone inscriptions. Cited in the Records of the Grand Historian and the Zuo Zhuan, it is counted among the rare clans claiming descent from Yu of the Xia, an origin that situates it at the very dawn of Chinese civilization.
Across the Shang and into the Zhou, the Ge clan remained an influential force. Active in the great capitals of Luoyang and later Anyang, it was deeply involved in military affairs, raising soldiers and casting bronzes for both war and ritual. The clan is also believed to have shifted allegiance to King Wu, aligning itself with the founding of the Zhou and continuing its bronze production in Shaanxi. Across the rise and fall of dynasties, the name of Ge has endured for more than three millennia in the bronzes that survive today.
The clan emblem takes the form of the ge dagger-axe, a weapon native to ancient China. The weapon typically had a long shaft with an angled blade mounted near the top, while the emblem often showed a tripod-like base and, at times, a trident-like element hanging at the rear. The ge dagger-axe first appeared in the Neolithic period as a functional stone blade or tool, later in jade medium for ceremonial and burial use, where it signified status and authority. By the Bronze Age, ge were widely cast in bronze as weapons.
Among the surviving bronzes bearing the Ge clan emblem, there are roughly 250 vessels, with two major excavation sites providing key evidence. The earlier discovery at the Gaojiabao site established much of the framework, while the 2016 excavation at the Xindian site renewed discussion of the clan’s history and significance. Most of these vessels date to the late Shang and early Western Zhou dynasties and include a wide range of forms, such as ding 鼎, yan 甗, gui 簋, zun 尊, you 卣, gu 觚, jue 爵, jia 斝, zhi 觶, he 盉, and lei 罍, as well as the ge weapon that gave the clan its name. Early textual references already suggest the Ge clan’s long history, and the scale and diversity of the surviving bronzes provide a parallel confirmation, with both lines of evidence reinforcing the clan’s considerable status and prominence.
Most of these bronzes are now preserved in prominent museums, including the Palace Museum in Beijing and Taipei. See also a widely published Ge gui from the Sackler Collection, sold in our New York rooms, 18th March 2021, lot 192. A small group of Ge jue is also preserved in the Palace Museum in Beijing. One of them, acc. no. xin-9360, which is closest to the present vessel, also features an animal-mask motif as its principal decoration, with cicada blades above.
As a character, ge is closely associated with warfare and state power. It appears as a radical in several related characters with military meanings, including wu (武, martial; military), often interpreted as “to stop the ge/weapon” (止戈為武), expressing the ideal of ending conflict or halting violence. In guo (國, state; country), the ge component suggests the defense of territory. Other characters such as rong (戎, warfare), fa (伐, attack), and zhan (戰, war; battle) also incorporate this element and carry military meanings.
From weapon to clan symbol to the character still used today, ge condenses warfare, authority, and the foundations of civilization into a single mark, laying bare the human instinct to conquer and to dominate.
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